Rebuilding New Orleans
Rebuilding New Orleans
ECO-FRIENDLY GIFTS CAN BE FOUND HERE AT HOME
TIMES-PICAYUNE. December 20 2008. By Molly Reid
...gifts with a green bent can set themselves apart from the same old sweaters and gadgets of the holiday season.
I'm not talking about gift baskets of compact fluorescent bulbs (though individually and with a little ribbon, they make great stocking stuffers).
A well-chosen, eco-friendly item can work from a number of angles: stylish but not too trendy, responsible but not sanctimonious, and money-saving without screaming, "I'm poor!"
To help in the search, the nonprofit Global Green recently held a panel discussion on green gift-giving, featuring several of New Orleans' environmentally friendly retailers.
Global Green to invest $17M in N.O.
NEW ORLEANS CITYBUSINESS. December 19, 2008.
NEW ORLEANS - Global Green USA, a group that has promoted the construction of eco-friendly homes in the 9th Ward in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, says it will invest $17 million in New Orleans.
"Green is not a trend for Global Green. It is a stalwart commitment to bring environmental consciousness to the center of local and national policy development,” said Matt Petersen, president and CEO of Global Green USA. “We will be bringing in an estimated $17 million in investment to New Orleans – leveraging tens of millions of dollars of investment beyond that through our impact on other projects including the Holy Cross Project, Build it Back Green, Green Seed Schools, green policy advocacy efforts and forums for professional builders and the public."
In 2009, among other things, the organization's Green Seed Schools program will retrofit and upgrade two more schools to make them more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.
Also in 2009, the organization will continue its monthly educational panel discussions and add a do-it-yourself monthly panel that will be held in a different neighborhood each month.
“This year will be a boom year for rebuilding in New Orleans. We fully expect it to be a boom year for green building as well and, by example, for the rest of the globe," Petersen said.
Energy-efficient home projects dot New Orleans
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. October 13, 2008. By Eileen Fleming
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - About a mile from the Make It Right project is another energy-efficient residence, the first of five planned houses to be accompanied by an 18-unit apartment building and a community center. The Global Green Holy Cross project, like the Make It Right project, aims for energy self-sufficiency. Birgitta Bisztray of Global Green USA takes visitors on tours of the house. All the electricity comes from the 28 solar panels on its roof, she said. And knowing their house will have power when storms knock out public systems is reassuring for residents, she said. "It's important to continue life as normal," Biszstray said. The second floor has a deck that offers city views and a roof garden. Interiors feature non-toxic materials, such as paint with low VOC (volatile organic compounds) and natural-fiber carpeting. Bathrooms feature dual-flush toilets. Windows are double-paned. Appliances are Energy Star whenever possible.
REBUILDING GREEN WILL GET A LITTLE EASIER THIS WEEK
TIMES-PICAYUNE. October 4, 2008. By Molly Reid
Rebuilding a home after a major hurricane while holding down a job and keeping a family together is difficult enough. Rebuilding a home sustainably, using energy-efficient products and materials with a low environmental impact, is even harder.
Energy-conservation advocates and architects agree that investing extra time and money into a stronger, greener home yields significant rewards in energy savings. But green building poses questions -- "What makes a home green?" "Where do I find bamboo floors?" "How long will it take this tankless water heater to pay off?" -- that many homeowners may not feel equipped to answer.
To make fact-finding easier, the nonprofit Global Green will launch its "Build It Back Green" initiative Wednesday. Made possible by $400,000 in grants awarded earlier this year from Greater New Orleans Inc. and the Surdna Foundation, the initiative will target Road Home recipients with information and technical assistance to make green rebuilding easier.
GLOBAL GREEN MAKES TOP 25 OF MEMBERS PROJECT
Our Rebuilding New Orleans Green project made the Top 25 of the American Express Members Project. Thanks to the efforts of our supporters, our project garnered over 4,000 votes. While that was not ultimately enough votes to get into the Top 5 and win funding, we thank everyone for rallying for the green rebuilding of New Orleans.
Reflections: New Orleans and China
THE NEW YORK TIMES. Sept 14, 2008. By Nicolai Ouroussoff
Not surprisingly, what little progress has been made has been the work of a few determined nonprofit organizations. In the Holy Cross neighborhood, Global Green built a prototype for a sustainable shotgun house, complete with solar panels, natural ventilation and recycled materials. The house is the first step toward creating a planned sustainable community, organized around a town green that is designed to collect runoff water during a storm.
THIRD SEASON OF CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED PBS SERIES E2
e2 (pronounced e-squared)is a critically acclaimed PBS series about the innovatiors and pioneers who envision a better quality of life on earth: socially, culturally, economically and ecologically.
New Orleans: The Water Line explores the efforts to rebuild New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward in a way that is environmentally, culturally and socially sustainable. It features Pam Dashiell - formerly of the Holy Cross Neighborhood association - who has worked closely with Global Green on the Holy Cross Project, as well as Global Green CEO Matt Petersen, and our New Orleans Director Beth Galante.
New Orleans, three years after Katrina
LOS ANGELES TIMES. Aug 31, 2008. Editorial
No, the city is not restored. But there are many signs of progress.
This weekend marks the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's devastating foray through the Gulf Coast, and though residents of New Orleans need no reminder of how vulnerable they are, Mother Nature is providing one anyway in the form of Hurricane Gustav. With some portions of the city's extensive levee system still waiting for upgrades, a direct hit by Gustav could bring flood waters back to neighborhoods that haven't recovered from the last go-round.
Should that happen, some critics will no doubt argue that investing tax dollars in New Orleans is throwing good money after bad. The federal government has put up $126 billion for repairs to the region, including nearly $60 billion for New Orleans and surrounding areas. It would have to spend billions more to restore the region's natural defenses against flooding. Why not move everyone out of harm's way and be done with it?
Watch Bob Woodruff's interview with Matt Petersen on Planet Green
This week on the Planet Green show Focus Earth, Bob Woodruff and his team head to New Orleans for the third anniversary of Katrina, to check out green rebuilding in the 9th Ward, and talk to Louisana's governor about the state's ecological future. The show includes an interview with Matt Petersen, President of Global Green. Bob Woodruff met with Matt Petersen at the first home completed in Global Green's Holy Cross Project, which is located in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
THE HOLY CROSS PROJECT: A LOOK BACK
In 2006, as part of our commitment to the sustainable rebuilding of New Orleans and to demonstrate green building as a solution to global warming nationally, Global Green and Brad Pitt joined forces to sponsor an international architectural design competition. Reporter Ann Curry of the TODAY show traveled down to New Orleans in July of 2006 to do a two-part interview about the design competition with both Brad Pitt and Global Green President Matt Petersen. Here's a look back at that coverage, plus other related articles.
Smokey on the Water: Rock Star Camp Rolls Into New Orleans
THE HUFFINGTON POST. Aug 20, 2008. By Karen Dalton-Beninato
When Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp rolled into New Orleans, the rock star counselors asked the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund to fill some scholarship positions and show them the effects of Katrina three years later. Showing someone around New Orleans these days not only includes pointing out abandoned slabs where homes were washed away three years ago, it also includes touring the areas where the city is finally rising thanks to ongoing grass roots efforts.
Camp counselors were Elliot Easton (The Cars); Glen Hughes (Deep Purple); Gilby Clark (Guns and Roses); Dave Ellefson (Megadeath); Kip Winger (Winger); Mark Slaughter (Slaughter); Chris Slade (AC/DC); Marc Hudson (the Hudson Brothers); and Earl Slick (David Bowie). We visited Global Green, Make it Right, Furnishing Our Neighbors and the Habitat for Humanity Musicians Village the day before the show.
HOLY CROSS PROJECT SITE UPDATE
Global Green, in partnership with the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association, chose to build its green affordable housing development on a site that is immediately adjacent to the Mississippi River in the Lower Ninth Ward. At approximately 7 feet above sea level, this half city block is on the highest ground in New Orleans, and should therefore be safe from future hurricane storm surges.
In selecting a site next to the river, however, Global Green is encountering lead contamination - an additional hurdle to sustainable rebuilding that tens of thousands of sites in the city are also burdened with. Global Green has met the challenge of cleaning up a contaminated site in a sustainable way head on: rather than simply scrap the contaminated soils into a dump truck and ship them off to a landfill in someone else's community - usually a low-income and/or minority community without the power to protect themselves from toxic imports - Global Green has chosen to keep the soils on-site, but to do so in a way that ensures that they are safely sealed off from the community and the environment.
A STARTER KITCHEN
TRIBUNE MEDIA. July 27, 2008. By Anne Willan
New Orleans - Leaving downtown and the anonymous halls of a large conference hotel, I escape across the Mississippi to the other New Orleans, to the infamous Lower Ninth Ward, where the flooding from Hurricane Katrina struck at its most brutal. Many of the original residents have left. The roads are eerily quiet with few cars and scarcely a passerby; this could be deep countryside, green with the brilliant colors of spring. I am headed to a small experimental project nestled right below the levee bank that holds in check the treacherous, swirling river water, here up to 200 feet deep.
In the Holy Cross neighborhood in the heart of the Ninth Ward, Global Green USA and the Home Depot Foundation have recently celebrated the completion of the first green home as part of a low-cost housing project. This pilot three-bedroom house is already inhabited, and cheerful Mike Lopez gives me a tour. He points out how, with no trees in sight, the house is angled to catch minimum heat from the sun. Power is supplied by solar panels, with an energy monitoring system and energy-efficient appliances. But living is not totally Spartan. My eye is caught by my department: the kitchen, reassuringly equipped with an electric stove. But the countertop is empty and Mike smiles sheepishly. "I've been eating takeout," he says. "Haven't gotten around to pots and pans yet."
No problem. Within minutes, I'm planning a starter kitchen to suit seasoned cooks and novices alike, new brides and new homeowners. In keeping with Global Green's mission, I'm going for natural colors and materials. No plastics or bright reds or blues; colors should be white or beige. We'll have glass bowls, I tell Mike; spoons for stirring will be made of wood or sturdy stainless steel. I suggest chopping boards of ecologically friendly bamboo. Electric appliances can be kept to a minimum -- it's surprising how many tasks like slicing a few potatoes are just as quickly done by hand
JOHN EDWARDS SURVEYS 9TH WARD 'GREEN HOME'
TIMES-PICAYUNE. FRI, JULY 25, 2008. By Nicole Dungca
During his second visit to New Orleans this year, former U.S. Sen. John Edwards on Thursday toured a green home in the Lower 9th Ward and held a news conference to talk about efforts to combat climate change. Edwards will co-chair a national climate initiative that will focus on influencing civic leaders and lawmakers to push environmentally-friendly legislation.
Edwards, who last visited New Orleans in January when he announced he was dropping out of the presidential race, was joined in a news conference by Global Green USA CEO Matt Petersen, who spoke of the dangers facing coastal cities across the country.
GLOBAL GREEN HELPS N.O USE LESS ENERGY
2THEADVOCATE.COM. JULY 25, 2008. By Amy Wold
Urging the use of more energy-efficient homes and discussing how to cut climate change pollution are parts of a new national initiative announced Thursday to reduce global warming-related pollution.
“New Orleans is a front line for sea level rise in this country,” said Matt Peterson, president of Global Green USA.
Reducing the amount of global warming pollution could help reduce the projected sea level rise if nothing is done, Peterson said.
NEW ORLEANS REBUILD EFFORTS GOING FOR LEED PLATINUM
INHABITAT. JULY 9, 2008.
The opportunity to rebuild New Orleans as an international example of sustainability comes in the aftermath of what is increasingly being recognized as the tipping point for global awareness of climate change and its devastating impacts. Global Green is committed to helping New Orleans rebuild and to use the national and international attention on the city as a wake-up call to push urgently for solutions to global warming. Global Green is accomplishing this through many initiatives including The Holy Cross Project which is going for the USGBC’s highest LEED certification.
GRANT TURNING CITY ONTO SOLAR POWER
TIMES-PICAYUNE. JUNE 29, 2008. By Molly Reid
Gathered around a mock roof in the middle of a workshop at the Louisiana Technical College Jefferson campus this week, 13 potential solar panel installers analyzed a quartet of photovoltaic panels mounted in a continuous row. The group had spent the past two days in class learning the basics of solar technology installation, and they seemed ready to put their skills to use.
The training course, the first of its kind in the New Orleans area, was partially funded by a $200,000 grant from the Department of Energy, which was given in June 2007 to a total of 13 "Solar Cities" across the country to encourage the use of solar power. The grant was divided between the city's Office of Recovery and Development Administration; the New Orleans branch of Global Green USA; the Alliance for Affordable Energy, which organized the training course; and New Orleans-based sustainable design consultancy FutureProof.
GLOBAL GREEN SEES RISE IN N.O.'S ECO-ACTION
TMES-PICAYUNE. MAY 24, 2008. By Molly Reid
Global Green USA and its New Orleans office last week celebrated the official opening of their first home in Holy Cross.
The house, built to platinum standards under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, will serve as a visitor's center and informational resource for residents interested in the rest of the Brad Pitt-sponsored Holy Cross project.
That effort will include four other single-family homes, an 18-unit apartment building and a community center.
For Matt Petersen, Global Green president and chief executive officer, and Beth Galante, New Orleans Global Green executive director, the grand opening was not just a landmark in the Holy Cross project, but also in the organization's history. After more than two years spreading the green word in New Orleans, the environmental nonprofit is seeing its dreams of a sustainable future for the city start to materialize.
HOLY CROSS PROJECT IS GREEN INSIDE & OUT
WASTE NEWS. APRIL 28, 2008. By Chrissy Kadleck
Avocado-painted walls in the living room are just one obvious sign that the first home of the Holy Cross Project is categorically green. This innovative two-story, three-bedroom home is not only a showcase of best practices in green building and materials, but also a model for environmentally friendly decor that is stylish and affordable.
Designed as a model of sustainability for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, Global Green's Holy Cross Project is a prevately funded mixed-use residential development and one of the first new home construction projects to be built in the Lower Ninth Ward, one of the most decimated areas from the levee failure after Hurricane Katrina.
GLOBAL GREEN HOUSE UNVEILS ECO-FRIENDLY DECOR
TIMES-PICAYUNE. APRIL 12, 2008. By Renee Peck
Back in 2006, when we were rebuilding our house post-Katrina, the emphasis was on hurricane-resistant construction: SIPS panels and trusses, paperless drywall and borate barriers.
No one was talking VOCs or BLUwood, tankless water heaters or low-flush toilets.
My, how things have changed. If I had it do to all over again -- and luckily I don't, because who would ever go through all that again -- I'd get not only a strong house, but also a green one. In the past couple of years, green building and eco-friendly decorating have come of age.
Global Green and Domino magazine show how comprehensively and affordably it can be done in a new house in the Green Village going up in Holy Cross. The project, you'll recall, was designed by a New York architectural firm chosen competitively by a group that included actor/activist Brad Pitt. The Home Depot Foundation is the major underwriter. Ground-breaking was back in August; this week, crews were putting the finishing touches on things.
21ST CENTURY SHOTGUN BLENDS TRADITIONAL & MODERN
TIMES-PICAYUNE. APRIL 10, 2008. By Doug McCash
The design of the Global Green model home in Holy Cross is smart. I'm not talking about all the futuristic energy saving features; I'm just talking about the appearance.
To do its job, it had to be jazzy enough to draw attention to itself, but stay pretty much within the scale and prevailing taste of the neighborhood. I think it does both.
The general design is a two-story stack of interlocking boxes, open from front to back like an old-fashioned shotgun. The most striking feature is the conflicting roof angle. The slope of the main roof faces south so the solar panels can best soak up the rays. The New York-based architects -- Andrew Kotchen and Matthew Berman -- sloped the front porch roof in the other direction just to add some variety. I like the zigzag effect.
SCHOOL SAVINGS SPROUT FROM GLOBAL GREEN
NEW ORLEANS CITY BUSINESS. MARCH 3, 2008. By Stephen Maloney
A.P. Tureaud Elementary School on Pauger Street is a whole lot greener today even without a new coat of paint.
Santa Monica, Calif.-based Global Green U.S.A. designated Tureaud as its first Green Seed School in June and immediately went to work on the 69-year-old Seventh Ward building.
The International School of Louisiana and Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School have also been named Green Seed schools. Program director Beth Galante said more schools will be added as work progresses.
Each school will receive up to $75,000 from a $2-million grant Global Green obtained from the Bush-Clinton Katrina Relief Fund in September 2006.
Brad Pitt Helps Out as New Orleans Rebuilds
THIS OLD HOUSE. AUG 28, 2007.
On the eve of Hurricane Katrina's second anniversary, Global Green USA toured progress of their first affordable green home under construction. The Holy Cross project is one of the first new home construction projects to be built in the Lower 9th Ward. It is being built with green products and energy efficient systems that will be included in the completed project of five single family homes, an multi-unit apartment complex, and a community center/Sustainable Design and Climate Action Institute. Here, Brad Pitt (initial sponsor and chair of the sustainable design competition jury), Global Green USA, and The Home Depot Foundation (lead funding partner) unveil the final design.
"What happened two years ago was a man-made disaster, and this building offers a man-made solution. This home proves we can build more thoughtfully, affordably and provide a better quality of life for the families within," said Brad Pitt.
Pitt envisions day when energy bills will be ‘useless'
TODAY. AUG 27, 2007. By Mike Celizic
Brad Pitt wants to make energy bills go away, and he doesn’t think that’s an outlandish pipe dream. In the second part of an exclusive one-on-one interview with TODAY’s Ann Curry, he showed how the new houses he’s helping to build in New Orleans will make a giant stride toward that goal.
The actor and activist sponsored a design competition for affordable apartments and houses along with Global Green USA. With the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina arriving next week, work on 18 apartments and five homes is nearing completion. Global Green is constructing the homes, which will be sold to residents, with preference being given to former residents of the neighborhood.
Brad Pitt shares hopes, dreams for New Orleans
TODAY. AUG 23, 2008. By Mike Celizic
Hollywood star lends his time, celebrity to rebuilding Ninth Ward
Brad Pitt doesn't pretend that the 18 apartments and five homes rising in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward are anything more than a start toward the massive job of rebuilding from the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Katrina. But the Hollywood star believes the project he's putting his time and celebrity behind is an important step toward shaping what the area could become.
“It doesn't feel like much of a victory when you look at the overall problem here,” he told TODAY’s Ann Curry during a tour of the construction site one week before the second anniversary of the killer storm. “Katrina was a manmade disaster. The misconception is that it was nature. But this is manmade — decades and decades of erroneous engineering moves and really, really bad, bad irresponsible moves that I believe government has a responsibility to make right.”
Pitt and his wife, Angelina Jolie, have adopted New Orleans. In January, they bought an early-19th-century mansion in the French Quarter. Not long afterward, Pitt teamed with Global Green USA to sponsor a competition to design environmentally friendly and energy-efficient housing for the Ninth Ward.
Pitt Power: Actor's fame helps build the first house in the Holy Cross affordable-housing project
TIMES-PICAYUNE. AUG 22, 2007. By John Pope
…Pitt showed up to check on the first house in a project he has been helping with his money and the power of celebrity. Accompanied by neighborhood residents and representatives of Global Green USA, which is sponsoring the initative, and the Home Depot Foundation, an underwriter, Pitt strolled through the two-story house, which will have solar panels that could reduce utility bills by 75 percent.
When Pitt emerged to face reporters in an open-sided tent nearby, he pronounced himself pleased with what he saw. The 1,400-square-foot house is designed to be a prototype for affordable homes for people whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding.
Brad Pitt aims to keep focus on Katrina recovery
REUTERS. AUG 21, 2007. By Russell McCulley
Pitt was in the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood to tour an ecologically sustainable single-family being built by Global Green USA, an environmental group he backs.
The actor praised the house in the Holy Cross area of the ward as a “small victory” for efforts to rebuild the city, but said it’s hard to find an overall victory when you see how slowly everything is still moving. And Katrina was a man-made disaster. This house is a man-made solution.”
The house that Pitt toured, loosely modeled on the distinctive New Orleans “shotgun” style of long, narrow homes, will generate almost all of its electricity from 28 roof-mounted solar panels, said Global Green USA president Matt Petersen.
Pitt's Green Building Project Begins
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. MAY 10, 2007. By Stacey Plaisance
With a brass band accompaniment, developers in this city’s devastated Lower 9th Ward celebrated the start of construction Thursday on an environmentally friendly new home, based on the winning design in a competition started by Brad Pitt.
The home will be made with energy-saving material such as metal roofing and recycled textiles.
“Hopefully this can be a model for the level of redevelopment that can be done here,” said Matt Petersen, president and CEO of Global Green USA, the environmental group working with Pitt on the project.
Brad Pitt Breaks Ground on Green-Housing Project
PEOPLE. MAY 10, 2007. By Mary Green
Brad Pitt may be halfway around the world with his family in Prague, but on Thursday, ground was broken on his green-housing project in New Orleans.
Pitt, 43, tells PEOPLE: "The greatest victory for me will be when the first people move into one of these green homes – when they can put their key into that lock, sit down at the table, have dinner with their families and live their lives. That's what we're getting closer to with this announcement today."
Last year, Pitt co-sponsored a competition with Global Green USA to find an affordable, Earth-friendly plan for building housing and community centers in neighborhoods ravaged the previous year by Hurricane Katrina.
In August, he announced the winners of his Sustainable Design Competition for New Orleans: New York City architects Andrew Kotchen and Matthew Berman of the firm Workshop/APD.
"Communities need to be rebuilt here and we hope this project points the way to how it can be done using smart sustainable design," Pitt tells PEOPLE.
Pitt on building an eco-friendly New Orleans
TODAY. SEPT 5, 2006. By Ann Curry
The ‘Today’ show’s Ann Curry talks with the actor about his efforts to bring housing to the region on the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
All week, we've been looking at the shocking devastation that still remains in New Orleans, as citizens there mark one year since Hurricane Katrina struck. On Thursday, actor Brad Pitt announced a major step forward in his effort to bring back housing in one of the hardest-hit parts of the city. Not only did he vow that it will be built, ground-breaking is expected in a matter of months. I caught up with him in New Orleans on Thursday for an exclusive interview.
Together with the environmental non-profit Global Green, Pitt sponsored a housing design competition, and Thursday he helped select the winner.
This winning blueprint is low-income housing planned for the neglected, still almost deserted, lower 9th ward.
Global Green New Orleans Competition Winner Announced
TREEHUGGER. SEPT 4, 2006. By Lloyd Alter
And the winner of the Global Green competition is Andrew Kotchen and Matthew Berman of Workshop/APD. We might have rejected them just for the punny name GreeNOLA and the retro drawings, but the scheme has winning attributes-
"The winning design integrated the newest sustainable technologies while drawing upon the wisdom of the past," said Matt Petersen, President of Global Green USA. "The impressive innovations show how to rebuild a healthier New Orleans. These homes, once built, will help improve the lives of families by lowering energy costs and improving the health of the residents." ....Pam Dashiell, President of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association served as one of the design jury members and described the role of the community process throughout the competition saying, "these green building designs breathe new life into our communities; the amount of community input was incredible."
Rebuilding a better, greener New Orleans
TODAY. JULY 18, 2006. By Ann Curry.
Global Green and Brad Pitt join forces to help bring housing to the Gulf Coast region. Check out the eco-conscious designs and video
To help encourage environmentally-friendly building, Brad Pitt, along with Global Green, announced a sustainable design architectural competition for the areas of New Orleans devastated by Hurricane Katrina. It drew 3000 registrants from all over the world, six finalists were chosen. Check out the designs, and watch video of Pitt, the “Today” show's Ann Curry, and Matt Petersen, president of Global Green USA, discuss the finalists.
All six finalists responded in different ways to our goal of demonstrating how green design and good design can be brought together in an innovative way, thus ensuring that housing is truly affordable and healthy. All of the selected designs express a clear understanding of the need to address rising electricity and energy costs and mounting health problems caused by exposure to unhealthy building practices. Healthy, energy efficient homes and affordable housing often have no or little increased cost, yet provide vast benefits through lower energy and water bills, increased durability, and improved health of the residents.
Pitt on rebuilding New Orleans, fatherhood
TODAY. JULY 18, 2006. By Ann Curry
The ‘Today’ show's Ann Curry talks with the actor about eco-friendly housing in the region, and the joys of being a dad
Nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina, Brad Pitt sat down with the “Today” show's Ann Curry to discuss the devastation in New Orleans, environmentally friendly development, and his new role as a dad.
The rebuilding process in New Orleans has been slow, so has the clean-up. The need for affordable housing is chronic. Brad Pitt recently teamed up with the non-profit group Global Green to try to spur green-friendly building in the Crescent City. As he tells us, it is a need that is way overdue.
To this shattered city, Pitt is bringing a new idea called green design — that is, a way to rebuild using materials that are less harmful to the environment, and cheaper for people to live in.
Joining the non-profit group Global Green, Pitt announced an architectural competition to green design a 12-unit apartment complex. It drew 3,000 registrants from all over the world, now narrowed down to six finalists.
The finalists suggested ways to build that could cut energy costs by as much as 90 percent, and to use materials that would decrease the risks of asthma and other health risks.
Pitt Shocked by Post-Katrina Devastation
FOXNEWS.COM. JULY 15, 2006. By STACEY PLAISANCE, Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS — After two days of getting his first up-close look at post-Katrina New Orleans, Brad Pitt said Friday he was shocked at the devastation that remains almost a year later.
"I was not prepared,"the actor said, describing how he drove for miles and saw street after street of devastation.
Pitt was in New Orleans to give an update on a project he's promoting - a competition to choose ecologically sound designs for rebuilding neighborhoods.
"There's a big opportunity here,"he said, to rebuild the city using energy-efficient building materials and appliances that would improve quality of life, particularly in low-income communities.
Global Green USA, a national environmental organization, is working with Pitt on the design project. Pitt heads a jury of architects, city residents and others who decided Friday on the top five environmentally friendly designs out of more than 100 entries. The designs were submitted by individuals and architect firms.